


You don't know until you know, so you better not know

by Polyhexian



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Cyberverse
Genre: M/M, POV Second Person, season 3 spoilers!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:22:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23103163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polyhexian/pseuds/Polyhexian
Summary: Hot Rod and Cheetor are friends.Then he gets stabbed in the chest and wakes up after the end of the world.
Relationships: Cheetor/Hot Rod
Comments: 5
Kudos: 35





	You don't know until you know, so you better not know

**Author's Note:**

> HEY DID ANYONE AT ANY POINT TELL HOT ROD WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO CHEETOR? perceptor never met him and would not know what the hell happened, Clobber would definitely not know- like did anyone tell him??? Inb4 hot rod gets everyone free from the parade and is like hey where's my good buddy cheetor and everyone is like [SHARP AWKWARD INTAKE]
> 
> Cheetor dying has me mad fucked up I've been lying in bad awake at night all week like oh my god... They KILLED him... He DIED....

You lean back against your seat, tipping the chair at a dangerous angle that only barely keeps the proximity monitor in your field of vision and laugh.

"You know, if you don't like guard shift, you could just ask for a different rotation."

Cheetor looks up from where he's primly investigating all of the irrelevant controls to the terminal, as if he wants to memorize their layout without even knowing their function.

"I am aware!" he asserts quickly, in that odd way he speaks, somehow bizarrely over-formal and absurdly casual all at once, like someone's who's first language has deeply strict tense rules, but you know Cybertronian is his native tongue, "But were I to transfer to another rotation block, we would no longer be partnered, Hot Rod!" 

"True," you nod, sagely, "and it would be pretty awful to miss out on hanging with me. I'm pretty fun."

He laughs, beaming, his optics bright, faceplate stretched in a smile that betrays his genuine glee the way no one else's does this late into the war, irrevocably honest and sparkfelt. "You are!" Cheetor agrees. "You and Bumblebee are the best- and first friends I've ever had!" 

It's a sobering reminder. Cheetor is no younger than you are. You're supposed to respect the Allspark, you're certain of that much, but you can't wrap your head around it's motivation to isolate someone who thrived off of those around him so much like Cheetor for so long. You couldn't imagine hiding that bright smile away from the world.

* * *

"Bumblebee, look at me!" you snap. It's been a long day. You're losing your patience. You're always losing your patience. 

"I _am_ looking at you, Hot Rod!" Bumblebee laughs, but he isn't looking at you, he's looking at the parade, "What's the big deal? Can't it wait?"

"No, Bee, it can't!" you snarl at him and spin him toward you, but he still doesn't look upset or even startled. It drives you mad. You despise that air of coolness he has here, and you don't know where it's coming from, the Quint's bogus brain blitz or if it's just something about Bumblebee you never noticed before, but everyone and everything seems to piss you off these days, so it's hard to say. "Don't you think it's weird that I'm here?!"

"If you mean I think it's weird you're here instead of over there where the view is better, yeah!" Bee chuckles. 

"No! No, that's _not_ what I mean!" The words feel like sandpaper in your throat, miserable and old, and they never work, "Don't you think I look any different from the last time you saw me? Don't you think it's strange I'm _here?_ "

He's still grinning dumbly at you, squinting his optics, "I mean, yeah, it's a weird colour change for you, but what's a better time for a detailing than a parade, huh? The last time I saw you, you were-" he pauses, suddenly, frowning, and you can see a flicker of clarity in his optics, something you barely ever do and you feel your spark stutter in your chassis with hope- "the last time I saw you, you were…"

"I was?!" you repeat, not even daring to hope you've finally gotten through to him.

"You… were dead," he says, blinking slowly, as if the words in his own mouth don't make any sense to him, "you were… we were… we had the Allspark."

"Yes! Yes!" you cry, feeling your spark leap and flare and you feel like you might cry, "The Allspark! You went on with the Allspark!"

"Me and Cheetor," he says, reaching up a servo to touch his head as if remembering hurts, "Cheetor would love this parade-"

You grab his shoulders and snap him back to face you, desperate, "Bumblebee, stay with me! What _happened_ to _Cheetor_?"

Bumblebee's optics snap open wide again and lock with yours and for a moment the sounds of the parade are gone, energon rushing past your audials the only thing you can hear.

"Hot Rod…" he says, voice cracking, "Cheetor-"

The loop resets. 

You rip the cortical psychic patch from the back of your neck and shriek out all your rage and anger like a wounded animal, your servos clenched into fists against the ground.

He didn't finish his sentence. You don't know. He didn't tell you, so you don't know. There's a good reason he isn't held with the rest of them. There's a good reason even if you haven't figured it out yet and even if Bumblebee hasn't told you yet, but there is one. 

He's not at the parade, but that doesn't mean-

You plug back in. One more try. 


End file.
